“You sure he has her?”
“He picked her up from school. I called to make sure.”
“Keep calling him. I’m going to get her.”
An hour later, I pulled up at Grandma Celeste’s house ready to put a bullet in his head, only to find that Jameela had beat me there and saved Amira from those clowns before I could get there. I was conflicted, but more than anything, I was grateful.
“Papi, como estas?” Amira whispered as I slid into the truck with her still in my arms. I couldn’t let her go right now. I was safer than any seat belt.
“Nothing, princesa. You’re safe now. I’m taking you home. OK?”
“Why did you make Miss Jameela leave? I thought she was coming with us.”
“She has to go home to Bella, mija.”
“But she saved me, Daddy. The bad guys were being mean to me after Uncle Darius left me there. I said I’m hungry and I want to go home, but he said sit down and stop crying before I give you something to cry about. Then Miss Jameela came to save me.”
My baby still referred to Darius as her uncle, but as far as I was concerned, he was as good as dead. I wasn’t sure when I could put him in the ground, but the ditch was already being dug.
“Is Miss Jameela coming back?”
“Not tonight, baby.”
“Why not? I thought you liked her. I like her, Daddy.”
“I told you she has to take care of Bella.”
“Why can’t Bella come with her? I want her to come back, Daddy. Call her.”
“Amira!” My voice came out louder and harsher than I meant for it to. It wasn’t Amira’s fault that I didn’t want to see Jameela. Amira was a victim in all of this. I never wanted anything connected to me to come back on my baby, but that was exactly what had happened. Now I had to clean up another one of Darius’s messes. This one would be the last.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you, baby. Jameela’s not coming tonight. How about I call your mom? She was really worried about you.”
“OK.” Amira pouted as she looked out of the window. Her questions still lingered in the air, but thankfully, she stopped voicing them for a while. I turned the radio up to let the music fill the silence, but it didn’t chase away the sound of Jameela’s voice in my head.
I love you.
The sad thing was that I believed her. The hardest part about pushing her away was that I felt the same way. No matter how far I stuffed it down, I hadn’t lost any love for her. Jameela saving Amira only showed me that she was exactly who I’d thought she was. That didn’t mean that I could just forgive her. Amira was my number one priority. If it were up to Jameela, I would be rotting away in prison instead of raising my daughter.
I picked up my phone and called Cindy on video chat before passing the phone to Amira.
“Hey, my baby. I’m so glad to see you.”
“Hey, Mommy. Uncle Darius said he was taking me with you, but he left me.”
I listened to my girl talk to her mom as I drove the rest of the way to my mom’s house. Amira would be safe there until I took care of what I needed to take care of. No one knew where my mom lived, and her place was gated and equipped with alarms and cameras.
Plus, now that the gig was up, Darius didn’t have any more cards to play. I just needed to make sure that my name was cleared so that the people who thought I was their next big fish could close their fruitless investigation. I dropped my daughter off without exchanging any words with my mom. The look on my face was enough for her.
By the time I made it to Cashville, my blood was boiling all over again. I headed straight up to the penthouse on the service elevator. There were only four people with access to it. Two of them were already upstairs.
As the door slid open, I stepped out and crossed the room. The sound of my boots pounding on the floor caused Darius to shift in his seat and open his eyes. He sat slumped in a chair, a makeshift bandage wrapped around his thigh, and his hands zip-tied behind his back. His eyes darted around the room oneverything but me. I could tell that Sawyer had worked him over, but unfortunately, I wasn’t here to finish him.
“Leave us,” I told Sawyer and one of his guys. Saw gave me a nod as they left the room quietly.
“Nick Nick, man, you know that shit didn’t go down how they said it did. I would never hurt Amira. I love that girl.”
“Save that shit, D. You already knew there’s no clearing that one up. Let’s talk about what led to it. You tried to set me up. That’s enough to sign your death certificate right there.”
